The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-11-24
was william Hairgrave, one Of the sur

was william Hairgrave, one Of the sur
vivors of the massacre.
In 1884 BENJAMIN Lewis, an Indian,
was hanged In Miami county.
In 1e66e6 D. II. Valentine, now chief
justice Of this state, sentenced to death
ecuted. In both instances the criminal
came before him on change of venue
from Franklin county.
Some time in 1855 boy named Bates
was hanged in the court room OF the
Usage county court house. The execu-
toner threw q rope over beam, the
boy was placed upon table, and when
all was ready the table was kicked from
under the boy, and the sentence OF the
court was duly executed.
On the 18th of September, 1888, Mel
vim Baughn was hanged at Seneca,
Nemaha county. at O'Clock p. m,
under sentence pronounced by Judge
R. st. Clair Graham, for the murder
Of man named Dennis, committed on
the 10Th of November, 1885. The con-
demned man showed extraordinary
nerve at the approach Of death, and
freely forgaye the community that had
''tyfraniZed'' over him, attributing
their ''il-feeiings to ignorance and bad
whisky"
Leavenworth was also the scene of
the last hanging in Kansas, which
occurred there In August, 1870, the con-
demned man being William Dixon, re-
ferred to above.
These eight judicial hangings oc-
CURED. of course, prior to 1872, in which
year the death penalty was practically
abolished, and since that time the
hangings in this state have been by
mobS.
The legislature of 1872 amended sec
ton 8. act III. of the complied laws of
1858, which provided that ''persons
convicted of murder in the first degree
shall suffer DEATH" SO as to read as
follows:
"Whenever any convict shall be SEN
fenced to the punishment of death, the
court shall cause to be made out, sealed
and delivered to the sheriff of the coun-
ty. q warrant, stating such conviction
and sentence, and an order instructing
the sheriff OF the county to convey such
convict to the penitentiary, and to de-
| liver the said convict to the warden
thereof, to be by him safely kept until
the time fixed for his execution, as
hereinafter provided, end certified
copy Of such warrant shall be, by the
clerk, forthwith transmitted to the gov
| ernor of the state"
The amendment of this section was
| q coWardly act upon the part of the
legislature of 1872. 1t made the death
penalty practically a dead letter by
| providing that the governor might, If
he felt particularly blood thirsty, take
| the condemned man out of the peni-
Tertiary, at the end Of one year, or any
time thereafter, and have the sentence
of the court executed. No governor
has yet been found, and no governor
ever will be found, who will act as
executioner under law that was in
tended to practically abolish the death
penalty.
There are now, by virtue of this
amended law of 1872, fifty-four prison
ers in the Kansas state penitentiary,
under sentence of death. They will
never hang, and when a murder is
committed in Kansas the criminal has
the consolation of knowing that the
| worst punishment that can be imposed
upon him is imprisonment for life, with
the hope of ultimate pardon or escape.
The hanging of MOsier this morning
was under the sentence of court that
means hanging when hanging is the
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